


Weaving my Wings

by ravensnwritingdesks



Series: A Most Magical Creature Series [1]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Backstory, No Dialogue, Prequel, for my own series though, inspired by a song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 07:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9874556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravensnwritingdesks/pseuds/ravensnwritingdesks
Summary: How Newt Scamander came to be a travelling Magizoologist with a suitcase full of creatures...





	1. Weaving my Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Part one of the series and therefore a prequel to my already finished multi-chapter story [A Most Magical Creature](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8798086/chapters/20170054).  
> Thank you for reading! I'd be happy if you leave kudos, leave a comment and tell me what you think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Titles and quote taken from, work heavily inspired by the song [My Walden](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIGBNhPN0eY) by Nightwish.
> 
> _"I do not wish to evade the world,_  
>  _yet I will forever build my own._  
>  _Forever my own._  
>  _Forever my home."_

It all began with a branch of Bowtruckles.

 

Well, not really... there had been many other creatures before that.

Newt couldn't remember whether the first beast he ever laid eyes on was one was his mother's Hippogriffs or one of the owls delivering the post... both were equally likely. But he knew that it happened at a very young age.

There certainly was a lot of time spent around the Hippogriffs for him when growing up... not always strictly allowed by his mother and also not always without accident. He was barely seven when one of the beasts picked at him as he got too close to a newly built nest. He remembered tears and soothing words from his mother, not the pain he must have been in though.

That was when he got his first scar... one of many more to come. But that one incident didn't stop him from spending any more time around beasts.

 

The first creature he provided care for was a far distance message owl arrived for his father. He was nine years old when he took care of the completely exhausted bird, nursed her until she was up and ready to begin the long journey back home with his father's letter of reply. It had felt good to look after a beast and watch them regain their strength under his care.

Of course that was long before most Owl Postal Services had started to collect all international mail to send them to their destination countries in bundles via portkey, instead of exhausting their owls for those long individual journeys. It was a sensible and long overdue thing to agree on, he thought.

 

While attending Hogwarts Newt would spend most of his spare time out on the extensive school grounds, and later also exploring the Forbidden Forest. At first that was often in the company of his one and only friend Leta Lestrange, who seemed to share his love for nature and beasts, but after the fateful incident with the Jarvey during their fifth year he was on his own again. Not that he did mind that too much... in hindsight, she had not been like him at all. Her treatment of him still hurt, though.

He nursed smaller, injured creatures back to health occasionally. He became friendly with most of the beasts he met. He tried and failed to make acquaintance with the Unicorns roaming inside the Forest. Instead he encountered a group of Centaurs, who reluctantly allowed him to roam deeper into their territory as long as he did not bring 'her' with him again. They had not liked the fact that he had been accompanied by a Lestrange before that... and it was easy to agree with that demand, since they had not spoken a word since his unenforced expulsion.

During his sixth year he discovered a group of green Forest Trolls deep inside the dark forest and rather stayed clear of that area afterwards. Trolls may be considered stupid by most, but that didn't make them any less dangerous to the average Hogwarts student. The Forbidden Forest was large enough to spend his days there without ever going near them again.

In fact, Newt probably spent more of his spare time outside and with all kinds of creatures than he did inside the castle and in the company of his fellow students. At least they did not treat him as some kind of freak like most of the student body did... even before he took the blame for something Leta had done.

He was certainly happier like this.

 

But really, it all started with those Bowtruckles the summer before his last year at school. He was seventeen by then and spent the summer holidays out and about exploring the West Country when he came upon them in a clearing... they were badly injured and their Wiggentrees had been cut down. This branch of Bowtruckles were the first creatures he actually rescued (all others would probably have coped without him around), and the first creatures he gave a new home to (on a potted Wiggentree sapling in his room back at the home). And it felt incredibly good to do that.

It occurred to him then, that this was something he wanted to do with his life... Saving creatures, keeping them from further harm, studying and learning about them, and educate others about them. He found a purpose, something to work for.

He completed his own education first, that last year he had left at Hogwarts. And Newt spent more time _inside_ the castle than outside in his seventh year, learning all he could about different kinds of beasts and creatures from the many tomes inside the school's library. There was surprisingly few useful information on the topic of magical creatures to be found, though. Something about the actual creature, not just it's uses for potions and spells or how to get rid of them. That was something in need of change in order to educate wizardkind... an actual book that explained the marvels and wonders that were magical creatures.

 

But there was also a war raging on the continent. A war that the wizarding world felt ever more compelled to help in, since the opposing side obviously had the same kind of support. There were rumours, then later gruesome (for him) news about the use of Dragons at the Eastern Front... and it became clear to him that he had to follow his older brother into this war.

Newt enlisted not long after graduation and made a request to be put with the newly founded Dragon Unit... it was granted of course, since there were not many volunteers for that particular group. His father was furious, his mother devastated, but he knew he was doing the right thing. He didn't enlist to fight for his country though, he signed up to make sure there was less cruelty towards the Dragons and other beasts they used for this war effort.

He spent the next two years training and tending to Ukrainian Ironbellies. He did not exactly agree with using these (or any other) beasts for fighting purposes, but he knew it was useless to complain about and petition against it. Instead he focused his efforts on making sure that at least they were not mistreated as well as sent out to the front lines...

Most days Newt was the first out to make sure the beasts were in a good shape before training or a new campaign started and the last in after seeing to it that they had at least everything they required to stay in a good mood. And the Dragons had formed a sort of fondness for him because it.

There were accidents of course, he was injured multiple times during those years. Once by his own carelessness, several times by that of his comrades, and one last time in line of duty so to speak, though he never saw actual combat.

Newt was sent home with severe injury from an Hungarian Horntail behind enemy lines, while his brother celebrated a heroic victory at the Eastern front.

 

He spent the next weeks or months more or less bed-ridden with a large wound that simply refused any attempts at healing... but at least he was home and in the company of his branch of Bowtruckles. After a while he started a diary to take notes on his observations of the creature's behaviours, then purposely studied them. It kept him entertained.

Later there was a job for him with the House-Elf Relocation Office at the Ministry. It was a boring desk job, but it suited his needs just fine after the Great War... his injury had finally started to mend properly about two months after returning to England, but anything strenuous was still out of question.

Here he found his second rescue case. It was a severely mistreated and badly injured House-Elf named Molly. She'd been sent back to the Office by her current master, saying she was not fit for service. Newt had to put considerable effort into keeping somewhat calm around this man... of course a House-Elf was not fit for service when beaten to a pulp by her own master!

She was a very shy and unhappy creature, flinching just from noticing someone's eyes on her, never speaking unless asked a direct question. And even then she preferred to only use 'yes' or 'no' as answers.

He wrote a letter to his mother and talked her around to take Molly into service at Scamander Manor. He knew his family's House-Elves were always treated respectfully and correctly, so it would be the best chance he could offer her for a better life. His family gladly took her in and helped her settle into the new position as much as possible.

But by the end of 1918 he was tremendously bored by his desk job with House-Elf Relocation, so feeling better now he joined the Beast Division instead. And not long after that he got the wonderful opportunity to be commissioned to write a comprehensive guide about magical creatures. He didn't even have to consider the offer and accepted right away. A book to educate wizardkind about magical creatures!

 

From then on he spent his time divided between his desk at the Ministry and travelling around the country (then later around the world) to study and research creatures whenever possible.

But Newt soon saw himself faced with a new problem: he also encountered more creatures in desperate need of help, and he often had no way to provide a safe environment for them to get better in. He was travelling with nothing but a knapsack, containing the essential necessities for travel and research, his wand and a few notebooks and pencils.

So barely a year after being commissioned he made a visit to his former Transfigurations teacher, Professor Dumbledore, and asked for a favour... his help in designing a suitcase fir for his travels. A case that would have enough space to accommodate a beast or two in need of help. A simple Extension Charm would not do for that, as he had found out on his last journey... He had been able to store all manners of objects in the newly acquired case back then, but anything alive (or edible) would not change its dimension to fit inside.

It took a bit of thought but Dumbledore was able to figure something out and by the next summer he started his travels in the possession of a (quite illegally) extended suitcase that would store just about anything. Even food supplies and rescue case creatures. It was a bare simple thing on the inside as well as the outside, but more than enough to suit his needs.

Newt never travelled alone again then as he had decided to take his branch of Bowtruckles with him. His mother was quite happy to see the fast-growing Wiggentree sapling finally leave the Manor.

 

Newt also started to travel more often, having found out that his colleagues in the Beast Division were actually happy to see the back of him most days...

He had transferred into the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau by now, so getting leave to 'investigate' some rumour of Dragon sightings in far away countries was not that hard to obtain... Of course those rumours turned out to be false more often than not and instead he used the allocated time abroad for his own research into the local Fauna. That did not always include a colony of Dragons, but Newt felt only marginally bad about it.

He was quite aware what people at home thought of him... him and his off-work research. They thought him not only to be strange for it but outright loony, spending so much time (and hard-earned money) to gallivant over the globe studying the nuisance that were magical creatures.

He didn't mind that too much, though. Newt had never been a people person, not at school, certainly not in his adult life. It was his goal in life to change their way of thinking, that creatures were not just a nuisance better to get rid off completely... not to make himself be seen as less strange, but for the sake of said creatures and their continued survival.

Though he actually preferred their company to that of humans, if he was being honest with himself, and there were only few exceptions to that rule. His colleagues were certainly not one of them.


	2. Weaving my World

With his more numerous journeys to even more remote places, Newt decided to start improving on the suitcase Dumbledore had created for him. At first he worked on more space for creatures he felt the need to take in, expanding the existing enclosures, adding a few more of them. Then he continued to add a small space for himself as well... somewhere to work on his notes and lie down for a few hours of sleep if necessary. He brought a small table and a cot into the suitcase and put them in the empty enclose closest to the plain stepladder that led in and out of the case.

During his next journey he spent more nights inside his suitcase than in the room he had actually rented for that exact purpose... but there was a reason for it. He was sleeping next to a small and weak Demiguise young he had encountered at the beginning of this expedition into the Far East. The little one had been left behind by his own mother, probably the weakest of the bunch, and must have been starving for days when Newt came across him... so he took the creature in and decided to raise it himself instead. Newt decided that his name would be Dougal.

 

Over the next year of travelling that little space for himself had slowly been turned from an improvised camp site into a more hospitable wooden shed, resembling somewhat of a potting shed one might find in a garden. By the end of the year it contained a proper desk to write at, a large counter to work and experiment on and numerous drawers and shelves for potions, medicines and ingredients... and all manners of baubles that had accumulated over time.

And soon there were no more rooms rented at shady roadside inns for him when he was on the road. Instead he would put up a small tent in the middle of nowhere, cast an assortment of protective charms around it and placed his suitcase inside... it also allowed him to venture deeper into remote uninhabited areas for his research. He slept in a hammock below the shed's ceiling for a while, then later added a smaller back room with a more comfortable bed for himself inside.

After less than three years of his commission his suitcase intended for rescued creatures had turned into a safe environment (home) for himself, too.

But not only his own space changed into something more, the enclosures intended for the creatures had been transformed as well. There were no more bars or cages as there had been at first... instead he started to spent a lot of time and effort in recreating a semblance of the respective creature's natural habitat, some place that the beast would not exactly want to leave and therefore made any kind of cage unnecessary. The enclosures were made of wooden walls and canvas now, charmed to give the impression of not being walls at all but would be perceived as a view into the 'distance' instead.

He had also carted amounts of actual soil into the habitats to be able to grow some natural vegetation inside. A tree here, some grass there, soon hedges and small forests, too. And with that also came a small greenhouse to grow magical plants, herbs and a vegetables for his own use. If Newt had a mind to, he could probably go and live inside his case exclusively after all those improvements... but there was too much to see and discover in the world outside for him to even consider it.

He still enjoyed 'coming home' into the case after a long day or night of tracking down some creature or other, though.

 

Griffins, Runespoors, Red Caps, Augureys... All manners of creatures inhabited his suitcase for a while. Most of them he released back into their natural habitats after studying them, curing them from injury or rescuing them from captivity. But some, like the Bowtruckles or the Demiguise stayed for good.

The group of Fairies he'd freed from captivity refused to leave his case simply because they loved the spacious clearing he'd created for them so much... even after seeing the place he had intended to release them into. But Newt didn't mind that some refused to be released as long as there was at least a pair of them so they wouldn't get lonely after a while.

Prominent exceptions to that rule were his Demiguise Dougal of course, and the young Niffler he had rescued from a band of smugglers some months ago. Both were too domesticated by either him or their previous owners to be thrown back into what was supposed to be their natural habitat.

He also managed to take in the last breeding pair of Graphorns and gave them a safe place to raise their foals within his case. These creatures had been hunted down and killed by poachers for decades now since their horns were considered a very valuable ingredient for potions. The entire species was close to extinction, and their unusual look with the tentacles around their mouth did not make them any more desirable for wizardkind to have around.

He'd found these last specimens in the furthest reaches of the Ural mountains, after having tried and failed to find Graphorns in any other mountainous region all over Europe. He thereby concluded they must be the last ones... but at least they still had each other. It always filled him with a sense of pride and achievement when he saw and was greeted by these rare creatures and their ever growing offspring.

 

Ever since he got his extended case Newt had never really been alone, though at times there was still a distinct feeling of loneliness in him. Not often, mind... in the fields he was way too busy to stop and think about his own state of being. But from time to time, when he was back in his office and filling out some mindless paperwork, it was there and rose to the surface.

As much as he tried to make sure the creatures in his permanent care were not alone but with a partner or friend, he himself was still the only one of his kind inside his suitcase (life). Not that he had actually set out to find someone for himself... as far as he knew there was no one out there for him to share his passions with. The wish for a companion was still present in him, though. Not even a girl to marry, just... a friend with similar interests.

He'd thought he had found someone like that a long time ago back in school, but he had been sorely disappointed. Where he had wanted to nurture and protect, she had wanted to use and own. In the end it had been better that their contact had ceased... even if it had taken him a long while to come to that conclusion.

Even though they did not share his particular interests, his family was quite understanding of him and his work too... or at least his mother was. To his father he was still some kind of disappointment for not choosing a career at the Ministry, and basically for doing anything he'd ever chosen to do. But that was fine, too... he didn't spend much time back at the Manor anyway apart from Christmas and occasionally his mother's birthday whenever he was not out of the country around that time.

The suitcase had become home, instead. The beasts inside had become a new family for him. And Newt was quite happy within this little world he had created for himself. He kept himself busy.

 

Newt worked with and for his creatures, he worked at and for his desk at the Ministry, he compiled his study notes whenever there was nothing else in need to be done.

It had been seven years now since his commission and they were very generous in giving him time to do his research... but even the most patient of publishers wanted to see printable results for his investment at some point. So he took an entire year off work and travelled the world to study all of those wonderful beasts one more time and in the fields... to gather more information, to fill some gaps, to get enough material to actually write a book. What he had compiled so far didn't strike him as good enough yet... not enough for a _comprehensive_ guide. There was still so much he hadn't studied yet.

 

From Britain he travelled to Asia, finding a few of the more interesting sea creatures and, more appallingly, a destroyed Occamy nest. He took a few days to track down the poachers who did this and took the eggs into his possession to hatch them himself. Dougal was very glad to help, the Demiguise had developed a mothering instinct just as strong as his own over the years.

After three months in Asia he travelled on to the Antipodes where he first met the Antipodean Opaleye, one of the most beautiful breeds of Dragons he had ever laid eyes on. He spent quite a bit of time there to study these fascinating beasts and their differences in behaviour to other breeds. He also discovered a flying insect named Billywig that somehow ended up inside his suitcase as well... funny little creatures, whose stings made one feel giddy and light to a point of levitating.

Two months later he booked passage over the Pacific Ocean. South America greeted him with sweltering heat and humid air. There was a visit to a small colony of Peruvian Vipertooths, the Dragons commonly associated with the deadly disease of Dragon Pox and therefore not very much liked in the wizarding world. He also found a number of interesting beasts during his time in the Amazonian Rainforest, most memorably a creature named Swooping Evil by the locals. He'd caught himself one of them and found that it was not that hard to domesticate this species. It made further studies quite a bit easier.

He continued on to Africa afterwards, leaving North American territory out of his travels for now. There were some interesting beasts there, but MACUSA's laws about anything concerning magical creatures (even simple research) were so strict that it hardly allowed for any research at all. His time was better spent elsewhere. So he crossed the southern Atlantic Ocean to Africa.

In Egypt Newt found another rescue case... a Thunderbird, illegally trafficked from America and chained up in a desert camp of smugglers, without doubt waiting for their potential buyer. He got the beast out of chains and captivity during the night, with next to no fight necessary. That was how safe and secure they had felt themselves in the middle of a desert... not a single protection charm in place.

In Sudan he came across an Obscurial... a little girl, imprisoned and repeatedly punished for having magic in a village where the old stories of witchcraft were just that: stories. The people had wanted him, the 'learned white man', to help her, to cure her from whatever sickness or demon had befallen her. But of course that was impossible once he saw what kind of 'demon' was actually inside her. She lost control over the Obscurus not a week after they met... She had begged him to take her away from her prison but the repressed magic had been too strong within her in the end.

Newt managed to separate the Obscurus from her though and planned to study it... and the people were happy to hear that the demon in their midst was gone. The death of the little girl did not seem to affect them half as much as himself.

There he later also took in an injured Nundu and nursed him back to health. He used this specimen to gather more relevant data on those particular beasts, that were very hard to find and even harder to avoid getting eaten by. (He'd been nastily bitten by this very Nundu himself, and that was the creature at its weakest.)

He also found himself suddenly in the possession of an Erumpent, and a very curious one at that. She had left her herd behind to go an investigate the strange creature that was following and watching them (himself)... and he could not get rid of her again. So in the end he decided to build her a habitat in the case, where she spent her time happily grazing by herself in a recreated savannah.

And so it turned out that with two more months left of his year off, he would make a trip to North America after all, to go and release Frank, the Thunderbird he had rescued only some months before, and study his kind and a few others on American territory while he was there.

He booked passage on a ship for New York and made plans on how to go about his research without gaining the attention of MACUSA. The only application he made was for a simple wand permit that was necessary over there, otherwise he'd officially be a tourist exploring the countryside instead of a Magizoologist looking for magical creatures. It had worked in other countries before... but admittedly not always. He would be fine though unless he ran directly into some investigator from MACUSA.

 

* * *

 

Newt spent a year in the fields to gather more information worth publishing... but it took an eventful trip to New York City and meeting a certain young witch that finally had him start writing and actually _completing_ the first printable manuscript for his commission. Just so he could go back and see her again... by delivering her a copy of his book in person.

At the end of spending that year in the most remote places, at home inside his suitcase and with only the bare minimum of human contact during all these travels, he managed to find the most magical of all creatures yet... A kindred spirit. A friend with a caring heart and similar attitudes toward helping those in need as he himself had.

The kind of companion he had long wished for... and possibly a girl to marry, too. If only he could find it in him to actually start courting her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure some things in here are not actually canon-compliant with the Fantastic Beasts universe (Newt's time in the war for example... the Dragon Unit seems to have been disbanded quite early on ^^) but hey, it's canon-compliant with my own story and that was written before we got all of that lovely background stuff in the companion books ;) 
> 
> Thank you for reading anyway. I'd love to hear your opinions on this, so leave a comment or kudos. They give me life and motivation to go on writing!  
> If you enjoyed this and are a Newtina kind of person, try and go on with part two of the series... ;)

**Author's Note:**

> If you are interested in updates on any new works I post you can either subscribe to my [AO3 profile](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ravensnwritingdesks/pseuds/ravensnwritingdesks) or follow my tumblr [@ravens-and-writings](https://ravens-and-writings.tumblr.com/).


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